10.05.20 SCC Press Conference

The County of Santa Clara
October 5, 2020
Live Stream - Briefing Live stream
2:00pm PT


David Compos: Roger are we ready good afternoon my name is David Campos I'm a Deputy County Executive and Lead Public Information Officer for the Emergency Operations Center for the County of Santa Clara we are outdoors and the cameras are uh about 10 feet away so we are going to take off our face coverings uh so that people can hear what we have to say today so welcome to this Press Conference where the County of Santa Clara and specifically the Health Officer of the County of Santa Clara and Leaders of the County will be announcing the issuance of a New Risk Reduction Order we're going to begin today with the County Council for the County of Santa Clara James Williams

James Williams: Good afternoon thank you all for attending before I turn it over to Dr. Sara Cody I wanted to just give a little bit of a reminder of kind of where we're at right now in terms of the evolution of our orders on July Order that replaced our prior Shelter-in-Place Orders in the prior Shelter-in-Place Structure and it replaced it with a more uniform and aligned across-the-board framework aimed at reducing the risk related to COVID-19 since that time the State has changed its own regulatory framework twice and as you know is now utilizing a multi-tier framework based on testing adjusted case rates and based on positivity rates through that framework the state places each County in one of four colored tiers in light of the lower levels of transmission that must be present to enter the Orange Tier under the States framework and to create more alignment with that State framework today Dr. Cody's announcing a revised Local Risk Reduction Order that will take effect the day after the County moves into the Orange Tier I'll turn it over to Dr. Cody to speak about that and then I'll come back and go through a little bit more of the detail about what this order entails


Dr. Cody: Thank you James and good afternoon everyone it's always good to be with you so as James said today we're announcing a New Risk Reduction Order that replaces the one that's been in place since mid-July our overall goal is to keep residents as safe and as healthy as possible but at the same time we want to simplify our framework align more closely with the state of California and of course enable additional businesses and activities to resume so I want to provide some context and describe where we are locally in this global pandemic as you may recall we had very low case rates from April through mid-June when the Shelter-in-Place Order was in place but when restrictions began to ease all around us and here as well we saw a rapid surge in cases we went from an average of 45 new cases each day on June 15th to a peak of 269 cases a day on July 17th so that's just within one very short month our daily case counts spiked almost six-fold in just one month so then our current Risk Reduction Order went into effect in mid-July and since then our case rates our positivity rates and our hospitalizations have been very gradually decreasing but very gradually so today our seven day rolling average of daily cases is 102 which is great it's less than half of where we were at our peak in mid-July but it's still more than twice where we were in mid-June and it's taken more than two and a half months to bring it down and we're not quite yet to where we were in mid-June so I just reveal this uh detail to highlight what we saw in our own community which is a pattern that we've seen across the State across the Country and indeed in many parts around the World which is that we can get into trouble very fast but it takes a very long time to get ourselves out of trouble so we must continue to be cautious when this New Risk Reduction goes into effect it will be a very significant easing of restrictions so now as always we all need to take precautions to keep our case rates low and indeed to have them continue to decrease we all know that COVID 19 spreads not just by respiratory droplets but that it's also airborne it spreads through the air and it spreads much more easily indoors we also know that face coverings significantly reduce the chance of spreading COVID 19 particularly when everyone is wearing them and that the riskiest settings by far are indoor settings where there's poor ventilation and where not everyone is wearing a face covering so again we're revising this order for two primary reasons one is we want to align more closely with the California Department of Public Health to make things simple and to prevent any confusion but we also want to reduce the chance of yet another swift spike in cases which means that we will continue to move slowly in two key areas and these are the two areas that have the most significant potential for super spreading events and that's indoor dining and indoor gatherings so in these two areas we will allow businesses and activities to reopen but we'll do so with some additional restrictions beyond those that are imposed by the State in the Orange Tier and we're keeping these additional restrictions in place to reduce the chance that much more significant restrictions would have to be imposed at the State or local level at some time in the future um which is exactly what would happen if we saw another swift spike in cases as we did in July so I'm going to turn it back to James to tell you a little bit more about the New Risk Reduction Order thanks so much


JW: So the New Risk Reduction Order will go into effect when we enter the Orange tier under the State's Tier framework the soonest the State may allow us to move into the Orange Tier is October effect no earlier than Wednesday October 14th that is of course contingent on continued stability and continued progress on the State's criteria here in Santa Clara County the trends in the last few weeks have been good and we are optimistic and expect that we will probably have our first week of eligibility for that Orange Tier tomorrow although we'll see when it's announced tomorrow by the State but we would need that to continue for two weeks in order to actually move into the Orange Tier under the States framework the Revised Risk Reduction Order when it goes into effect effectively aligns the County's regulatory framework with the State's Orange Tier with only two exceptions and these are the areas that Dr. Cody highlighted as higher risk areas one is indoor dining which may begin once the new order takes effect but with the Red Tiers limitations of 25 capacity or 100 people and indoor gatherings which also may resume once the Revised Order takes effect but also at the State's Red Tier limit of the fewer of 25 capacity or 100 people it's worth noting that like our current Risk Reduction Order there are actually areas where the revised order would continue to allow some things that actually under the State framework are not allowed and of course it continues to be true as it has been for many months now that the stricter of the two orders applies. In addition there are several other changes for instance the local density rules which have been in place since the July 2nd Order will no longer apply but the Social Distancing Protocols that we have come to expect at all businesses and open facilities are still essential and all businesses will need to submit Revised Protocols to reflect the updated order within 14 days after the Revised Order takes effect it remains absolutely essential that we as a community together are very diligent about following those Social Distancing Protocols as many many new things would open up under the Orange Tier under the States framework and under the Revised Risk Reduction Order with that I'm going to turn it back over to David Campos


David Campos: Thank you very much we are now going to hear from members of the Board of Supervisors beginning with President Cindy Chavez and then followed by order of seniority uh Supervisor Dave Cortese and then Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, President Chavez


Cindy Chavez : Well good afternoon everyone I am really excited that all of you are here to hear this intro this really important news I wanted to just say a couple things about the way we've been proceeding and really appreciate the leadership of my colleagues and of our staff and that is to say that what I've been most proud of is to see the leadership that Dr. Cody and the County staff have put forward that is really focused on science, protection and safety so today as we take these next steps I want to make a couple of points very clear these announcements really require that as a community that we take all of the precautions that Dr. Cody and the Departments of Health have asked us to to wash our hands frequently to socially distance and wear our masks because if as we move slowly forward we should slip back into a previous tier that is going to be disruptive for everybody so as a community we've got to work together to keep our illness numbers and our hospitalization numbers low and to make sure that we're protecting the neediest people in our community while we do so one other thing I wanted to say is that over the past seven months I've seen amazing things I I've fallen in love with this community again I've seen generosity, heroism, thoughtfulness, kindness but the months we have coming before us are going to be equally as challenging why because as we open up we create more risk and where there is risk it really requires us as a community to be responsive careful and frankly do it in a way that builds our community and doesn't tear it apart so I want to thank our staff I'm I'm just so honored to be here with all of you and honored to turn the podium over to Supervisor Cortese


Dave Cortese: Thank you uh Supervisor Chavez and thank you Dr. Cody for your thoughtful measured approach and the whole team that supports you from County Council and the County Executive's Office it's important what's happening today because it feels to me like we're getting back to some level of uniformity in terms of of how we approach uh the response uh to what's happening to our community with this pandemic and uh through no one's fault uh through the evolution of of of how this had to be dealt with one County at a time one Community at a time all across the Nation including here in the Bay Area and in California we haven't always been so aligned with our neighbors and even with the State Health System and today is a huge leap forward in that regard which I think creates clarity certainty some level of good simplicity for those who are out there doing their best to follow the rules just as President Chavez has exhorted us I want to do a little exhortation myself because I know among those listening and who will be listening to the broadcast from this event today are faith leaders and restaurant owners who have been waiting who have been sacrificing who have been struggling but who have in good faith abided by the rules and who have been telling us at every opportunity well beyond probably what the media would would know or expect please give us an opportunity please let us do what we can do we can be safe and we can make this work please open us up enough so that we have some relief so that our congregants have some relief so that our customers so that our employees have some relief and today is a big leap forward in that regard but it's going to require that you make this work nobody here on this patio can make it work for anyone else every restaurant owner, every church, every temple, every mosque, every faith congregation right down to the last person sitting in the last pew is going to have to make this work because as Dr. Cody just told us and I think everyone caught that if it doesn't work it means we slip back a tier because that's what the State will make us do and when that happens we're right back to where we don't want to be and is that just about struggling or inconvenience no last Friday to a week ago last Friday 20 people died in Santa Clara County from COVID-19. if 20 people died in a year in this County from anything in any prior year all of you would be here asking us what's going on 20 people died in a week Friday to Friday if you go back and look at those two reports so we can't afford to take any chances this is a matter of of saving humanity and I just thank everyone for again the measured approach um the sacrifice and Supervisor Chavez called it the diligence thank you


Susan Ellenberg: Thank you all for being here today I want to express my strong support for the steps being taken by our health officer today. Today's changes to the Risk Reduction Order provide some additional clarity for those businesses and activities that have remained closed there is some light at the end of the tunnel however this Revised Order will only take effect if we make it into the Orange Tier and that requires each of us to continue to do our part to slow the spread of COVID 19. we have to strictly follow Social Distancing Protocols we need to always wear face coverings when leaving our homes businesses must quickly report any positive COVID 19 cases among their workforce we also need to continue to get tested so we know where the virus lives today brings some positive news and clarity for our businesses and residents but we are still far from out of the woods Covet 19 is apparently going to be with us for quite a while we need careful and sustainable behavior to continue to battle this behave this virus we have to continue to rely on each other to keep our community safe please stay vigilant the health of our community truly depends on all of us


DC: Thank you Supervisor Ellenberg to uh everyone who has spoken before we take questions I want to note that we will have interviews available in different languages following the Press Conference in Spanish in Vietnamese and in Chinese so I know we have monolingual media that is here so we want to make sure that every member of our County every resident hears the news in their native language with that I also want to note that the Facebook live broadcasting of this Press Conference was also being translated in Spanish live as it was taking place so we're very proud to make that accessible to all of our monolingual speakers with that we're happy to take questions well yes sir I don't know President Chavez President Chavez


CC: You know I first of all I just want to acknowledge that the President has availed himself of the best Medical Care in the World and if every American had access to that kind of care maybe my response would be different than what I'm about to say I think it is incredibly irresponsible to tell people that a disease that is deadly is nothing to worry about and here in our community we're going to remind people to take care of each other by wearing their masks frequently washing their hands and staying socially distant it's disappointing that he's chosen to use his bully pulpit to put lives at Risk


DC: yes for those that are watching on Facebook live the question has to do with whether or not this is for Dr. Cody we are looking at other communities that have done what Santa Clara County is proposing to do including data in those communities

Dr. Cody: Thank you for the for the question the the main difference is that when Santa Clara County hopefully advances to the Orange Tier um we will allow everything in the Orange Tier pretty much to open just with those two exceptions which is indoor dining will essentially be at the Red Tier level which is a hundred or twenty five percent capacity whichever is fewer and um and indoor gatherings at 125 um the other community that I know of here locally in the Bay Area that's gone into Orange which is San Francisco is taking a similar approach where indoor dining and indoor gatherings for church and indoor movie theaters are also at the Red Tier level so we're both aligned with the State and then in some respect respects we're also aligned with San Francisco for both San Francisco for Santa Clara County and for any other County if it look if it turns out that transmission in those settings is driving transmission in the community then our numbers will go up and will automatically go back to a more Restrictive Tier so that's sort of the safeguarded place within the State framework


DC: Any other question well thank you very much for your time and again we are available to do interviews in Spanish Chinese and Vietnamese question any any updates on schools no no changes for schools thank you very much